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EU Alcohol Strategy and the European Alcohol and Health Forum. Robert Madelin Director General Health and Consumer Protection European Commission.
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EU Alcohol Strategyand the EuropeanAlcohol and Health Forum Robert Madelin Director General Health and Consumer Protection European Commission "Working Together to Reducethe Harms Caused by Alcohol Misuse“ MEAS Conference(Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society)Dublin, 27 February 2008
a European issue • consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world
a European issue from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006
a European issue • consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world • moreover, decrease in consumption is levelling off
a European issue from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006
a European issue • consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world • moreover, decrease in consumption is levelling off • most countries in EU face similar problems (“convergence of harm”): • under-age drinking • binge drinking • drink-driving…
IRL:boys 31%girls 33% binge drinking (15–16 year old students) European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)(15–16 year old students) ESPAD Report 2003:Proportion of all students who reported “binge drinking” (> 5 drinks in a row) 3 times or more during the last 30 days
IRL:boys 30%girls 28% 15-16 year olds drunk 10 timesor more during last year European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)(15–16 year old students) ESPAD Report 2003:Proportion of all students who have been drunk 10 times or more during last 12 months
IRL:boys 25%girls 22% drunk at age 13or younger European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)(15–16 year old students) ESPAD Report 2003:Proportion of all students who have been drunk at the age of 13 or younger
EU action on a key health determinant • 7,5% of all ill health and early death in EU • 195,000 premature deaths per year in EU • up to 25% of male / 10% of female premature deaths
Disease burden (DALYs, 2000) Developed Countries source: WHO(Report on Global Burden of Disease) number of Disability-Adjusted Life Years lost
economic cost of alcoholin Europe total tangible costs – €125bn from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006
AlcoholCommunication 2006 • goals: • Protect young people, children and the unborn child • Reduce injuries and deaths from alcohol-related road traffic accidents • Prevent alcohol-related harm among adults and reduce the negative impact on the workplace • Inform, educate and raise awareness on the impact of harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption, and on appropriate consumption patterns • Develop, support and maintain a common evidence base
Eurobarometer survey(2007) • citizens support action to address alcohol harm: • 44% of EU citizens believe that public authorities have to intervene in order to protect individuals from alcohol related harm (IRL: 47%) • 77% (IRL: 82%) agree to put warnings on alcohol bottles and adverts with the purpose to warn pregnant women and drivers of dangers of drinking alcohol • 73% (IRL: 74%) agree to lower blood alcohol level (0.2 g/l) for young and novice drivers • 80% (IRL: 91%): “random police alcohol checks would reduce alcohol consumption before driving” • 87% (IRL: 89%) agree that selling and serving alcohol to people under the age of 18 years should be banned • 76% (IRL: 74%) agree that alcohol advertising targeting young people should be banned
the way forward • two main alleys: • cooperation with Member States: • coordination of government-driven policies • review national and regional alcohol policy development – dissemination of best practice • stakeholder partnership approach: • multi-stakeholder platform “European Alcohol and Health Forum”
Meaning Actors Coherence Relevance Roots Monitoring & Evaluation Vision key elements
consumer and health NGOs,medical professions advertisers, broadcasters, publishers, other media observers: WHO, EU Institutions, Member States, IOVW alcohol producers, wholesalers, retailers, caterers, insurers other Commission services European Alcohol andHealth Forum: participants European Alcohol and Health Forum
EuropeanAlcohol and Health Forum • overall objective: • provide common platform for all interested stakeholders at EU level willing to step up actions aimed at reducing alcohol harm • main areas to be addressed: • under age drinking • information on effect of harmful drinking • responsible drinking/promote behavioural changes • consumer information • commercial communication
European Alcohol andHealth Forum: eligibility • umbrella organisations operating at a European level • capable of playing active role in reducing alcohol-related harm in EU • willing to engage in concrete and verifiable commitments • organisations operating at national or sub-national level, or individual companies • willing to engage in concrete and verifiable commitments • European-level umbrella organisation or federation needs to be Forum member • 50 Founding Members at Forum launch,54 at present
European Alcohol and HealthForum: commitments • members formally and publicly commit to concrete action • commitments to reflect Forum members’ objectives and resources • commitments to indicate level of relevant current activities as baseline • members to devote increasing level of effort beyond baseline to commitments • commitments to indicate measurable objectives • all commitments feed into public data base
European Alcohol and HealthForum: monitoring, evaluation • commitments monitored + evaluated in transparent, participative and accountable way • outside involvement in reviewing progress and outcomes (to create trust in process) • monitoring and evaluation plan for each commitment • in line with agreed monitoring guide • reports on input, output and outcomes of commitments (publicly available) • periodic Commission reports on Forum progress
European Alcohol and HealthForum: commitments overview • 75 commitments received so far • main areas targeted: • develop information and education programmes on the effect of harmful drinking (28) • better cooperation/actions on responsible commercial communication and sales (26) • develop information and education programmes on responsible patterns of consumption (19) • main countries targeted: • EU-level: 29 • country level: United Kingdom: 17; France: 15; Germany: 15; … Ireland: 8 • main target groups: • young people (18-25): 15 (7 particularly on young women) • under age drinkers: 5
European Alcohol andHealth Forum: structure European Alcohol and Health Forum Science Group Plenary Session Open Forum Task Force on Marketing Communication Task Force onyouth-specific aspects of alcohol
European strategy Implementing the Commission Communication European Alcohol and Health Forum Committee on National Policy and Action Health in other policies Science Group Plenary Session Open Forum Committee on Data Collection, Indicators and Definitions Task Force on Marketing Communication Task Force onyouth-specific aspects of alcohol
outlook • long-term objective: • change attitudes towards irresponsible drinking across societies: being drunk is no longer socially acceptable (similar to tobacco, where smoking seems to be less and less socially accepted) • push the limits of effectiveness of partnership approaches, while using supplementary public intervention at national + local level to ensure that we achieve real results